PARCEL bomber Neil McKenzie is a free man just three years after he plotted to bomb former Celtic manager Neil Lennon.

McKenzie, 44, and his co-accused Trevor Muirhead, 46, sent devices packed with nails that they wrongly believed were capable of exploding to Lennon, former MSP Trish Godman, the late Paul McBride QC and members of an Irish republican organisation.

The pair were originally accused of conspiring to murder their targets but the charge was thrown out due to insufficient evidence.

But at the High Court in Glasgow, a jury took only two-and-a-half hours to convict both men of conspiring to assault their intended victims.

Now McKenzie has returned to his home in Saltcoats, Ayrshire where he is trying to lie low.

Father-in-law Pat Cameron, 69, said: "He has done his time. Three years and 16 days- is that not enough?".

His wife Laura added: "He wants to be left alone."

Co-plotter Trevor Muirhead is still in jail despite being handed the same five year sentence as McKenzie.

The first device, addressed to Celtic boss Lennon at Parkhead, was a crude hoax containing nails and putty.

But another, sent to Trish Godman’s constituency office, contained a small amount of an explosive called Triacetone Triperoxide.

It’s believed Muirhead and McKenzie made the explosive using peroxide they got from Muirhead’s unwitting son, who worked as a hairdresser.

Peroxide, an unstable and potentially dangerous substance, was found in two more of the five devices – one addressed to Lennon at Celtic’s training complex and another addressed to the Glasgow offices of Cairde na hEireann (Friends of Ireland).

The plotters’ lawyers tried to portray them as “dafties” and bumbling incompetents, and McKenzie claimed he got bomb-making tips from The A Team on TV.

But Mr Cuddihy said the bombers were wary enough to cover their tracks better, moving from handwritten notes to printed ones and being careful to use computers other than their own when researching how to commit the crimes.

Muirhead, a van driver known as “Big Trev”, was a former member of the Orange Order and the Apprentice Boys of Londonderry.

His home was full of Rangers and loyalist material.

His daughter Gemma, 18, had two Ulster flags, an Ulster Volunteer Force plaque and a clock with a picture of King Billy on her bedroom wall.

She told her father’s trial the clock was a present from her parents.

Muirhead also owned an “oath of allegiance” to a group called the Scottish Unionist Association, which read: “I, Trevor Muirhead, am a Protestant by birth.

“Being convinced of a fiendish plot by republicans to destroy my heritage, I swear to defend my comrades and my country by any and all means against republicans and republican offshoots that may be of similar intent.”

McKenzie, a jobless builder and part-time tattoo artist, was also a member of the Scottish Unionist Association.

He met Muirhead through work in the building trade and referred to him as his “best pal”.

Police, who had bugged a car used by McKenzie, heard the duo bragging about their plot. He and Muirhead talked about “planting” something outside a police station and “letting the f***** off”.

Muirhead said: “They think all the Ayrshire boys are dafties.”

McKenzie was also heard talking about “how to build a bomb”, and there was talk about peroxide and being “f****** sorted”.

The men also boasted to their families about their crimes.

After one of the parcels was posted in a nearby street, McKenzie told Muirhead’s daughter-in-law not to look out of the window if she heard “a bang in the night”.

And after the bomb plot was reported on TV, Muirhead told son Gordon that “more than one” had been posted. Gordon asked if he had sent them and he replied: “Never you mind.”

Muirhead also spoke to his son about bombs “being made in a sterile unit” and how “nothing will get back to us”.

McKenzie was convicted on his own of sending a device, with the intent of making Lennon believe it would explode or ignite.

Muirhead was cleared of that charge on a not proven verdict.

But both men were convicted by majority of conspiring to assault Lennon with the Lennoxtown bomb. They were also found guilty on majority verdicts of conspiracy to assault Celtic supporters Godman, McBride and staff at Friends of Ireland.

Both devices intended for Lennon were intercepted by the Royal Mail.

The device addressed to Godman arrived at her office, and the building was evacuated.

Royal Mail tried in vain on the same day to deliver the device meant for Friends of Ireland.

It ended up in Belfast, at a national centre for undelivered mail, where it was x-rayed and found to contain nails, a watch component, a bottle and a wire.

The package intended for McBride, addressed to the Advocates’ Library in Edinburgh, was collected from a postbox in Kilwinning. It was found to contain nails, wire and a petrol-like substance.

The Prison Service declined to comment on McKenzie's release as did Neil Lennon's agent.